Doctors and their Coffee
by superboetti
Summary: She was so rude and he didn't even know her name... why couldn't he stop thinking about her? Gibbs and OFC.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is my first NCIS story. I've been a huge fan of the show from the beginning, so I'm a bit nervous about posting this. But I just had to give it a try. I hope you like it and please be gentle;-)**

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><p>The snow was falling, coating his backyard in a white blanket. Gibbs hoped though it wouldn't snow too much, he had toys to deliver. Nurse Middleton was waiting for him. Since he finished the Kelly he had been making toys and he loved it, this was his fifth year. The kids at the hospital were always happy to see him, knowing that in his bag there was something for all of them.<p>

When he looked out of the window again the snowing had stopped and he knew this was his chance. With any luck he could be at the hospital in 20 minutes.

He took the big bags of gifts and walked to his truck. 20 minutes later he walked through the doors of the Children's Hospital. He had always liked it here. Everybody was always smiling, even though this was a place where death and happiness went hand-in-hand.

"Ah, Mr. Gibbs… the nurses were worried you wouldn't make it this year."

"No no, just waited for it to stop snowing." Gibbs said to Gus the janitor who always helped him carry the bags.

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><p>After Gibbs had given each child a gift and had been given a smile in return, he always ended up in the doctor's lounge with a cup of coffee.<p>

He was just about to leave the empty doctor's lounge when the door opened and someone said "You're not allowed to be in here."

Gibbs turned around ready to tell the woman off, but instead no words seemed to be able to come out of his mouth. The voice belonged to one of the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Black hair, with some grey hairs poking their way through, framed her face. What struck him most though were the stunning green eyes, that didn't really fit with her Asian features. He couldn't really see what she was wearing, because her lab coat was covering most of it up, but her legs looked amazing and seemed to be going on for miles.

"Sir, did you hear me?" She asked again.

"What?" His voice came out as a whisper, so he cleared his throat before repeating himself.

"This room is for doctors only." She explained and Gibbs thought he could hear a hint of a British accent in her voice. Already he was very curious about this woman. And those eyes, God he hoped they weren't contacts.

"Nurse Middleton told me it was okay. I just had one cup of coffee." Yes, it was a stupid answer, but this woman had brought him totally out of course.

"Yeah I saw that and you used my cup." She walked closer and practically snatched the cup out of his hand.

"Sorry…" He mumbled. He was breaking his own rules already, he didn't even know this woman.

"And you took the last coffee as well. Happy fucking Christmas to me." That last part was mumbled while she fiddled around with the coffee machine.

"I couldn't figure out how to start it."

"It's a coffee machine you just push some buttons. It's not rocket science."

"Okay, I'm just gonna leave before you blow my head off." He finally had enough. She was really beautiful, but only one woman was allowed to talk to him like this. And that woman was probably in her lab right now.

Just before he reached the door he stopped and said "Merry Christmas." He didn't get an answer in return.

As he left the hospital he was a bit angry, that doctor woman had been very rude to him. But what was even more disappointing, he knew nothing about that woman and that was a shame.

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><p>When he got home there was a package waiting for him in front of his door. He knew who it was from, Abby always got him something for Christmas. Last year she had gotten him a gift card from Home Depot, but this year the package was a little too big to be a gift card. He carried it inside placed it on the dining room table. He would open it tomorrow.<p>

He woke up when he felt the sunlight hit his face. It had been a long time since he had slept this long. Why had he slept this long? He hadn't been that tired yesterday. With a shrug he went to the kitchen to start the coffee. As he pushed the button he thought back to yesterday and concluded the mysterious doctor was right, it really wasn't rocket science.

With his cup in hand he went to the dining room to open his Christmas gift from Abby. He imagined she had already opened her gifts and just like a kid had gotten up at the crack of dawn. He used his knife to open the package. The inside was filled with red and white confetti. After some digging he pulled out another box, some of the confetti landing on the floor. When he opened the box he could do nothing but smile. Inside it there was a plastic Christmas tree along with some ornaments for it.

To be perfectly honest he would rather have gotten another gift card for Home Depot. Maybe Abby was right though and this place needed some Christmas decoration.

Just as he was about to start decorating the tiny tree his phone rang, with a sigh Gibbs stood up went for it.

"Yeah Gibbs."

"Hello Jethro its Katherine." Katherine was Nurse Middleton. "We found your wallet."

"Oh, I hadn't even realized I'd lost it. I'll come and pick it up."

"Okay I leave it with Doctor Lee, she was the one who found it." He hung up, looks like he was going back to the hospital. Secretly he hoped he would see the mysterious doctor again.

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><p>When he reached the Children's Hospital everything was different. For starters there were more people running around the halls. And the reception area was filled with worried parents or families who could finally leave this place.<p>

He had to wait a bit before it was finally his turn to ask the receptionist. "Could you tell me where I could find a Dr. Lee?"

"I'll page her." She said with a friendly smile.

He waited for 5 minutes and he probably got the biggest surprise, there was his mystery woman walking towards him. Well at least he had her name now. He just hoped she wouldn't be rude to him again.

"Well well if it isn't Mr. I-can't-get-the-coffee-machine-to-work." She fished his wallet out of a pocket on her lab coat. "Here, I found it after you'd left."

Gibbs nodded his thanks and then he didn't know what to say.

"Listen about yesterday, I'm sorry that I was a little rude. I just get cranky when I don't get my coffee."

He smiled "I understand, sometimes it's the only thing that keeps me going."

She laughed and Gibbs stored that sound in his memory. "Yeah, but after Katherine told me who you were and all of the wonderful things you make for the kids. I should've been nicer to you, so again sorry."

"Never say you're sorry-"

"It's a sign of weakness, I know." All Gibbs could do was smile, again.

"Well I better let you get back to work. Thanks for the wallet."

He had just walked a couple of steps when she said "Happy Christmas Day." She smiled and turned away and went back to her work, leaving a grinning Gibbs behind.

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><p><strong>AN: That was the first chapter, hope you liked it. Please tell me what you thought and leave a review on your way out;-)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: And here's the next chapter! I'm already working on chapter 3.**

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><p>The days between Christmas and New Years Eve Gibbs spent investigating a double homicide, two gang members had shot each other and sadly one of them was in the Navy. The good thing about the new case was that it took his thoughts away from the lovely doctor Lee. She had been in his dreams every night and every time he was alone she was with his as well.<p>

He was up to the point where he needed to do something about that. So as soon as they had brought the two bodies back to the Navy Yard Gibbs went down to autopsy to talk to Ducky.

As soon as the door opened his best friend said "I've only just put the bodies on the table Jethro. I don't have anything new to tell you."

"I know Duck. Abby needs your help with something, Palmer." He said to the young assistant, who nodded and left Gibbs and Ducky alone.

"You could've just told him you wanted to talk to me in private, Jethro. He is going to be so disappointed."

"I'll remember that for the next time."

"So what's on your mind?"

"Have you ever had weird dreams or thoughts about people you don't know the name of?" While he was talking he started pacing in front of the two bodies.

"Well everybody has these kinds of dreams Jethro. Especially we men tend to have some weird erotic dreams. That was what you meant with weird dreams, right?" He stopped pacing and glared at Ducky, of course that was what he meant. "So who is this woman that's been in your dreams and thoughts?"

"She's a doctor I met her Christmas Eve when I delivered the gifts to the Children's Hospital. She was so rude to me, I don't even know why I'm bothering with this."

"How was she rude?" Ducky asked while he was changing into his gear.

"She snapped at me when I took the rest of the coffee and didn't make more."

"Ah coffee and the practice of medicine practically go hand-in-hand, I remember a time on med school, my good friend Michael-"

"Ducky, your advice for me…" Gibbs interrupted before the story could get too out of hand.

"Right, but it did bring Michael to drink tea for the rest of his life. Back to your problem, my advice is you should ask her out and get it out of you system."

"Thanks Duck."

With these encouraging words from his friend, Gibbs put his personal issue on hold and focused on the case.

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><p>When they finally finished the case, Gibbs had made up his mind, but he needed Abby's help for what he had planned. So before he went home he paid the happy Goth a visit.<p>

He saw her typing away on her computer, but it wasn't case related, she was on one of those social networking sides he had seen Tony use.

"Watcha doing, Abs?"

Abby jumped when she heard his voice. "What are you doing here Gibbs? Did I do something wrong? Did I miss something?"

He took hold of her shoulders and said "Take a deep breath and calm down." He waited for Abby to do so before he continued. "Can you find me this person's number?" He gave her a piece of paper.

"Dr. Lee at the Children's Hospital," She read out. "I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks Abs." He gave her a kiss on the cheek and could finally return to his home, where he hopefully could get some sleep.

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><p>The next day, the first day of the new year, Gibbs woke up at four in the morning. Now, this was nothing new to Gibbs. What made this day different though, was that he had the day off. Vance had ordered Gibbs and the team to take the day off, since they had been working on the case all week.<p>

So Gibbs did what he usually does on a day off. He started it with a shower followed by his first cup of coffee. Then he went down to the basement, he still needed to clean up after all the toys he had made. That did take nearly an hour, until he was satisfied. Every tool was back at its rightful place and he had cleared a lot of the sawdust away.

By the time he was finished the paper had arrived, so he did spend the rest of the morning reading the paper while enjoying another cup of coffee.

He was just about to think about something for lunch when his cell phone rang. The display revealed it was Abby.

"Hey Abs…"

"Gibbs, I found the number you asked me to. I also got the address of this woman, if you're interested?" She said getting straight to the point.

"Yeah, give me everything you've got." He got a pen and paper and wrote it all down, which was her home and cell phone number, her address and email and of course her first name which is Elisabeth.

"So who is she?" Abby asked he could hear the excitement in her voice. She had always been very curious about the women in his life.

"Just someone I need to talk to."

"Is it related to the case we just finished?"

"Thanks for finding the number, Abs."

"Noooo," She whined. "you have to give me at least something. I did spend a lot of time finding that information." They both knew that wasn't true, it had probably only taken her 5 minutes or less.

"I'll tell you soon, okay?"

"Promise?"

"I promise." And with that said he hung up. He stared at the piece of paper in front of him. His fingers itched to call her immediately, but he had a gut feeling it wasn't the right time. So he decided to wait until after dinner time.

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><p>When he finished dinner he did the dishes as slow as possible. He was trying to summon up enough courage to make the call. He even took the time to drink a whole cup of coffee, before he finally had enough "Suck it up, Marine!" He said to himself.<p>

With new found strength he punched the numbers of her cell phone into his and waited for her to pick up. He took a deep breath and then he heard her voice.

"Whoever this is, have you looked at the time?"

Gibbs looked at his watch and realized with a shock that it was really late, 11 o'clock to be exact. Finally he seemed to find his voice "Yeah sorry about that. I can call back tomorrow if you want?"

"Well now you've woken me up anyway you might as well tell me what you want and who the bloody hell you are."

On the upside she was awake now, he thought.

"This is Jethro Gibbs, you might not remember me-"

"Of course I remember you, everybody at the hospital knows who you are."

"You had no idea who I was when you yelled at me the other day." He said even though the situation now brought a smile to his face, he had been quite scared at the time.

"To be fair I only knew your name. So what can I do for you, Jethro Gibbs?"

"Well I was wondering if…" No, that wasn't the right way to ask, he thought. "I think I owe you at least one cup of coffee."

"Yeah you do."

"You're not making this easy."

"Well you did wake me up."

"Right… Maybe after you've had a good night's sleep you can meet for breakfast?" He asked while his heart started to beat faster.

"You want what?" She seemed confused, although if she was clever she would've figured out what he wanted long ago.

"You. Me. Breakfast tomorrow including some coffee."

"Are you gonna turn into a creepy stalker if I turn you down? How did you get this number anyway?"

"I will explain everything tomorrow 8:30 at Joe's the diner right outside the Navy Yard." Third time's the charm, he thought.

"Now you're just bribing me, Jethro Gibbs. To be honest though, you've had me when you offered me some coffee. So I'll see you tomorrow at Joe's."

"Great. I'll let you get back to sleep then. Goodnight."

"Goodnight." She hung up and Gibbs had to sit down, he was so relieved. He couldn't believe it he has a date tomorrow.

Gibbs fell asleep that night with a smile, something that didn't happen too often.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews and a thank you to all the people who put this story as their favorite and on their alerts, I'm very glad that some of you liked the first two chapters.**

**Anyway here's the next chapter! Merry Christmas to all of you;-) **

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><p>It was four in the morning when Gibbs got up. After he started the coffee he hopped in the shower. Then he stood in front of his dresser thinking about what he wanted to wear. He decided not to wear the usual white undershirt today; instead he took his favorite blue button-down shirt off the hangar along with some grey slacks and of course his black boots.<p>

_What are you doing_, he suddenly said to himself. He was dressing up for this and already trying too hard. Plus, was it really worth getting comments about the shirt later at work? Well he could always head-slap DiNozzo, some day that boy would learn to shut his mouth.

In the end he decided he couldn't care less, he wanted to look good for Elisabeth. And with that decision he started his morning routine drinking coffee while reading the morning paper. He even had time to finish a load of laundry.

He left the house with his badge and gun, hoping this would be the start of a wonderful day.

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><p>Gibbs entered the diner, this was his favorite time of the day. Not only because of the coffee, he just loved the smell of fresh coffee, bacon, eggs, toast and bagels. Joe, the owner of the diner, did everything from scratch, even the toast and bagels were homemade.<p>

The best part was though that he knew Joe. He was an old marine buddy of his they had both been in Desert Storm.

"Ah Gunny, the usual I presume?" Joe always greeted him like that.

"Yes, but not to go." He said when he saw Joe reach for a paper cup.

"Sure thing. The lovely lady isn't here yet though."

"What?"

"Well you and Albert are my only customers right now." Gibbs looked around and sure enough it was just him and Albert, who had breakfast here every morning. "So, I'm guessing you're meeting someone here and you're not wearing your usual polo shirt." Gibbs rolled his eyes, great already he was getting comments about his clothes.

He took a seat in a booth where he could watch the street and watch the people passing by. Then suddenly he saw her. She was riding a bicycle towards the diner. Some people on the sidewalk stopped and stared at her, not because she was riding a bike, but because she was wearing a neon colored helmet with a matching vest. Some people were even laughing, he found it amusing as well, but he was sure she had a reason for wearing the safety gear.

She parked her bike at the window where Gibbs sat. So he knocked on the glass, she smiled when she saw him and hurried to the door.

Suddenly Joe stood right next to him and put a cup of coffee on the table. "Should've told me you were waiting for Beth." He said.

By now she was standing right behind Joe. "Thanks for the coffee Joe. Now get back to work." She said and pushed Joe out of the way so she could take a seat.

"Hi," she said to Gibbs. "sorry I'm a bit late, there was an accident and they closed the whole road." She took off her jacket and Gibbs was surprised wearing an oversized sweater and baggy jeans. Surprisingly though she could pull it off.

"That's okay. Do you always ride your bike to work?"

"Yeah. It can get dangerous in the snow, but I'll bet you I'm still faster at work than you."

"I'm sure you are. Cars probably part like the Red Sea seeing you in your yellow safety-vest." He chuckled.

"Hey! That baby has saved my life a few times."

"Don't you own a car?"

"No I never have."

"Wow…" Was all he could say, he had never met someone who hadn't at one point in their life owned a car. He owns two cars right now. "Well if you ever need a ride in the morning, give me a call."

"I don't have your number. How did you get mine by the way?"

"Well that was easy…" Gibbs told her a little about his job and how Abby had found her number. She was leaning forward the whole time listening intently to what he was saying and she laughed when he described Abby and the rest of the team. "They're the closet thing I have to a family." He admitted.

"The closest thing to a family I have is like a million miles away. My son Charlie still lives in London…" She told him a bit about herself. She had moved to DC 7 years ago and had worked her ass off to get the job as chief of the oncology department at the Children's Hospital. The only other steady thing in her life was her car Buster. "I've really wanted a dog, but with my crazy work hours a cat just seemed the better choice."

"I have a goldfish." They looked at each other and they both started to laugh at the same time.

They ate their breakfast in a comfortable silence. He was pleasantly surprised when she finished her breakfast leaving her plate squeaky clean. She had a healthy appetite, it was very refreshing seeing a woman eat so much and not caring if it was basically just fat.

After Joe had taken their plates away, Gibbs just sat there staring at his cup. His gut was telling him there was something she wanted to say, but was afraid of.

"So why did you leave London?" Beth took a sip of her coffee looking everywhere but him. She was nervous about something. "It's okay you don't have to tell me." She really didn't have to, they had only met 30 minutes ago.

"No I want to tell you, it's just hard to talk about even though it happened seven years ago."

"I understand. Why don't we talk about this when we're alone, because right now Albert and Joe are probably listening too." They both looked towards Joe and Albert and sure enough both men looked suspiciously away from them.

Just as Gibbs was about to say something to Joe they were interrupted by the beeping of Beth's pager. She took it out of her pocket with a sigh.

"That's the downside of being the boss, everybody needs my approval or opinion." She muttered while looking at the display.

"Tell me about it. I guess you have to go then?" He asked and he didn't even hide the disappointment in his voice.

"Yeah I'm sorry." She was already sliding out of the booth, this was important.

"That's okay. Hey Joe! Two cups of coffee to go." Joe nodded and got to work.

Gibbs helped her into her jacket and the vest, he stood quite close to her and could smell her hair. He couldn't stop inhaling the lovely scent of peach, vanilla and something he couldn't place.

He paid for the breakfast and coffee. Together they walked, it had started to snow.

"Are you alright on the bike in the snow?" He asked as they walked to the bike.

"Yeah don't worry about me. I've been riding my bike in the Washington winter for 7 years." Then she did something he found amusing. She poured the coffee inside a steel travel-mug with a lit, so that she wouldn't spill her precious coffee inside her bag.

There was an awkward silence between them, she was putting on her gloves while he fiddled with his car keys.

"So you have my number maybe you could call me again?" her eyes were full of hope, but Gibbs was also sure he could see a little fear in them.

"Yeah I could do that. Although I could also come around to your apartment and visit."

"I see Abby got my address as well." The fear was replaced with happiness and he was happy too. They got interrupted by her pager again. "I really have to go." With a kiss on his cheek she hopped on her bike and paddled away. He watched her until she disappeared around the corner. He hoped he could see her again soon.

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><p>"Have you seen Gibbs? He hasn't brought me my morning Caf-Pow yet." Abby asked as she walked into the bullpen.<p>

"No he isn't here. We've tried calling him, but he doesn't answer." McGee said.

"What do you mean he isn't here? It's 10 in the morning, he should be sitting at his desk with his fourth cup of coffee." Abby was nervous in all her time at NCIS Gibbs was never late. Something was wrong. "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God…" Her body started shaking all over as she hurried over to DiNozzo's desk, she pushed him and his chair out of the way so she could get to his computer.

"Abby, calm down." DiNozzo said while rolling back to his desk.

She stopped what she doing and glared at him. "No, I will not calm down, what if something has happened to him? What if he was involved in an accident while he was getting his coffee? He could be in the hospital right now!" She finished off with a yell.

"Actually Abby he is right behind you." McGee said putting DiNozzo out of his misery and could breathe a huge sigh of relief.

Abby spun around and sure enough Gibbs was just about to step into the bullpen area. She ran towards him nearly breaking out in tears when she was in her arms, smelling that comforting scent of sawdust and coffee. He was okay.

"Abbs can't breathe…" He whispered.

"Sorry…" She released him. She stared at him for a while. Abby had noticed the different shirt he was wearing. Then she suddenly remembered what the reason could be. "You had breakfast with the doctor, didn't you?" Her worried frown turned into a smile.

All Gibbs did was nod and walk to his desk and took a seat in his chair, just like every morning, but he couldn't stop the tiny grin that broke free.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: First of all thank you for the kind words in your reviews. Second of all I'd like to apologize for the long wait, real life sort of snuck up on me and I hope my next update won't take so long!**

**Anyway here's chapter 4…**

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><p>Finally she was on her way home with nothing but the weekend to look forward to. And it had been a hard week, four of her patients had died, nothing unusual for an oncologist, but it still got to her. The only thing that could make her feel better, was spend the rest of the night on the couch with a movie and Buster purring on her lap.<p>

Maybe she would call Charlie tomorrow, he always had a funny story about some of his patients in the ER. But it was the weekend and she was sure he had better things to do than to talk to his mother.

Luckily it hadn't snowed today so the streets were clear and she was home in less than 20 minutes.

She climbed the stairs thinking about what kind of take-out she should order. As she rounded the corner to her front door, she nearly tripped over somebody's legs.

"Finally… I've been waiting for 2 hours." The voice startled her, but she relaxed instantly when she recognized it as Jethro's. She could also hear he was very tired and when she looked down at him, it looked as if he hadn't slept since the last time she had seen him, which was two weeks ago. "You work longer than I do." He mumbled as he got up from the floor with a groan.

"Sorry about that." She opened the door and let Jethro in her apartment. They were immediately assaulted by the sound a cat complaining. "Yes I know its dinnertime." She whispered down to Buster who followed her to the kitchen.

She got the cat food from the can into the bowl and put it on the floor. Beth could hear the cat purring while he ate.

"Do you have a can for me too, cos I'm kinda hungry?" She nearly jumped out of her skin, she had forgotten all about him. She turned around slowly and saw him leaning against counter.

"No I don't, but I do have a drawer full of take-out menus." Beth opened it for him and then told him to pick something while she would go change out of her work clothes.

30 minutes later they were sitting at the table eating burgers from the local diner. They hadn't said much to each other and Beth could tell Jethro was very tense, like he needed to talk but not quite sure where to begin.

"So why were you camping out in front of my door?" She asked directly because she knew he wasn't much for small-talk.

"It didn't feel right to drown all of my sorrows in bourbon alone." He answered keeping his eyes on his food.

"What kind of sorrows? Sorrows from work?"

He nodded and just before he took a bite of his burger he mumbled "Tough case."

"Ah. Usually when I've had a tough week I drown my sorrows in wine… Would you like a glass?"

He looked as if she was crazy. "You don't want to know what happened?"

"I figured you would tell me when you're ready."

Again he looked surprised. "In that case, I'll have a glass." A little smile broke out.

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><p>After dinner they took the wine to the couch. She did most of the talking, but she didn't mind because she could see him unclench a bit.<p>

When there was some silence between them Jethro looked around her living room, his eyes finally settling on some pictures on the wall. They were mostly of Charlie in different ages.

"Six days ago my team and I got called out to a case in Quantico, a woman was found murdered in her living room. When we went through the house we found the body of a child in one of the trashcans outside. It was her 4 year old daughter."

He had to take a deep breath before he could continue and she didn't interrupt him.

"Turns out the husband killed them both, because he didn't want to get divorced. We spend the last five days hunting him down. He was pretty good at hiding, always one step ahead of us. We found him just before he could cross the border to Canada. Didn't change the fact though that a mother and child had lost their lives."

Beth could see he was exhausted, but at the same time it looked as if a huge weight had been lifted off of his shoulders.

Suddenly he looked up at her blinking a few times, as if he had just woken up from a dream. "I should probably go, you look tired."

"I think you should stay." He raised his eyebrow in question. "You look as if you're about to pass out."

Jethro nodded and sat back down again.

Beth took their glasses and the wine back to the kitchen. She came back to the living room with a blanket and a pillow, he was still sitting on the couch where she had left him.

She looked at him and wasn't at all surprised to see that far-away-look again, what surprised her though was the anger and pain she saw in his eyes as well. Maybe the case had been tougher than he had told her.

She carefully leaned down and untied his shoes and took them off. He didn't even react when she took his blue polo shirt off. Beth carefully laid him down on his back and fished his cell phone and wallet out of his pants pockets. He also didn't react when she unbuttoned his pants and took them off too.

As soon as she had covered him with the blanket he was out like a light.

Beth kissed his forehead and went to bed herself. She was a little worried about him. Hopefully some rest would help get rid of his dark thoughts.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I'M SO SORRY for the long wait, I've had a bit of writer's block with this story! Thank you for the reviews I got for the last chapter!**

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><p>He noticed something was off as soon as he felt the sunlight hit his face. Then he noticed the smell was different as well. Yes, he definitely wasn't in his own house. Slowly he opened his eyes and first then did he remembered dinner with Beth and him telling her about the case. He also remembered felling much better after he had told her.<p>

Gibbs heard a door opening down the hall and seconds later Beth walked down the hall to the kitchen not even noticing him. It gave him the perfect opportunity to take in those long legs of hers. She was only wearing a t-shirt, so her legs went on for miles. He would love to run his fingertips along the smooth skin. _Stop it, Marine! _He needed some coffee.

He uncovered himself and noticed he was only wearing a t-shirt and his boxers, he couldn't remember undressing himself. With a shrug he stood up and stretched, surprisingly he didn't ache as much as he would've done after a night on his own couch. Gibbs walked quietly to the kitchen. Beth was moving around making herself some breakfast.

"Morning…" She jumped when she heard his voice, nearly spilling all of the milk on the counter.

"Morning. Don't do that again." Even though she was threatening him she couldn't stop the smile that lit up her whole face and he returned it with one of his own.

The coffee machine beeped telling them the coffee was ready. Their feet seemed to have a mind of their own as they both moved towards the machine without thinking about it.

"Good coffee…" He mumbled after he had taken a sip, it tasted just like Joe's. His brow furrowed, it tasted exactly like Joe's.

Just he was about to ask she said "Yes, it's Joe's coffee. He told me how he did his and I had to promise not to tell."

"How did you get him to tell you?"

"I smiled." To prove her point she smiled at him. It was almost as good as Abby's puppy-dog-eyes.

"He always did have trouble resisting a pretty lady." He added with a chuckle, which made her smile even more and she gave his forearm a gentle squeeze.

"I hope cereal is okay for breakfast, because that's all I have."

Gibbs nodded, he didn't mind usually he just had coffee anyway.

And so they had breakfast together, they even shared the paper together. It had been a long time since he had shared the paper with someone, Gibbs had to admit he liked the feeling. Even after all of his mistakes in the past there was nothing like the feeling at the beginning of a relationship. Wait, was this even a relationship? Gibbs wasn't sure, it was probably too early to tell.

The peaceful moments were interrupted when Gibbs' phone started ringing on the coffee table.

"I'm sorry I have to answer that." He said with a sigh, it looked like the morning was going to be ruined. With another sigh he answered the phone, knowing he would have to leave soon.

Five minutes later he was back in the kitchen fully dressed and looking at her not quite knowing what to say.

"So I guess you have to go?" She asked smiling at his sudden shy attitude.

"Yeah, I'm sorry."

"No need to apologize, I understand." She stood up and walked closer to him. "Do you want some coffee for the road? I have a thermos that will keep it warm for some hours."

"Yeah sure." He followed her to the coffee machine and stood behind her as he watched her fill the thermos for him.

He couldn't help himself, slowly he reached out and placed his hands on her hips. First she tensed up a bit, but then she leaned back into him and let him slip his arms around her lacing them together around her stomach.

"You know next time you don't have to sneak up on me."

"Sorry" He said again while pulling her tighter against him, inhaling her vanilla perfume she still smelled of even though she was wearing her night clothes.

"Why are you apologizing all of the time?" Beth asked as she turned around his arms.

"I don't know. I-" He took a deep breath. "… with my other wives… They said it didn't work out because I didn't talk to them. I don't want to make the same mistake." Gibbs whispered into her neck. He was revealing one of his biggest fear and at the same time one of his secrets. And it was the truth he was done with making the past mistakes, he felt he was finally ready to move on from the past he had been stuck in for so long.

"When you say _wives _how many are we talking about?" He had noticed that she hadn't tensed or, like so many other women he had dated, thrown him out of the apartment.

"Four" Gibbs said hugging and giving her a kiss on the cheek. "I'll call you when I finish this case, okay?"

"Yes" She smiled and gave him his thermos.

Gibbs left her apartment feeling a little bit better about himself. It had felt great to talk to her about the case. And he felt relieved that he had already mentioned he had been married four times, but there still were some tough topics to talk about. He just hoped they could both handle it, because he really started to like Beth.


End file.
